nato's monthly losses in afghanistan reached 64 today-- most of them americans-- with two more soldiers killed in the south. and 20 afghan civilians died when a roadside bomb blew up the bus they were riding. meanwhile, the coalition said tuesday's deadly attack on a kabul hotel was the work of the haqqani network. the group has ties to al-qaeda and the taliban. a leader of that network was killed in a nato air strike last night. defense secretary robert gates got a ceremonial send-off his last day on the job. president obama and the outgoing joint chiefs chairman admiral mike mullen joined hundreds of others on the parade ground outside the pentagon, to mark the occasion. the president awarded gates the medal of freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. and the secretary joked it had been a secret to rival the raid on osama bin laden. >> i'm deeply honored and moved by your presentation of this award. it is a big surprise, but we should have known a couple of months ago, you're getting pretty good at this covert ops stuff. ( laughter ) >> sreenivasan: gates served four and a half y